Meteorite found by Michigan couple estimated to be worth more than $10,000
The "treasure hunters" found a 1.7 oz. meteorite, up for auction at Christie's.
— -- A piece of the meteor that left southeast Michigan residents awestruck on January 16 is up for auction as "the most recent stone to fall to Earth."
Christie's estimated the interstellar rock to be worth between $10,000 and $15,000, James Hyslop, a curator at the auction house, told ABC News in a statement.
When the meteor hit the atmosphere, it broke into pieces that rained down between Lansing and Ann Arbor, Michigan, prompting some residents to embark on a treasure hunt.
Ashley Moritz and her boyfriend, of Royal Oak, decided to start hunting after they read reports of others in the area finding the meteorites just days after the meteor landed.
"I screamed 'Oh my god, I actually found one,'" Moritz told ABC News, adding that she and her boyfriend couldn't stop laughing.
"We just got a huge kick out of the whole thing," she explained.
"My boyfriend and I are kind of amateur treasure hunters," Moritz said about her hunt that lasted two days before she discovered the meteorite hidden in the snow, atop a frozen lake.
She decided that other people would be interested in owning a piece of this meteor after meeting with professional meteorite hunters, who influenced her to sell it through Christie's.
"I'm going to put any money I make back into my business," Moritz said of her decision to sell her finding.
"Very few specimens have been found; less than 1 kg of material is currently documented," Hyslop said in a statement about the meteor.
This meteorite, which weighs less than 2 ounces, was part of a larger mass that fell from the sky that literally shook Michigan when the meteor's seismic waves were assigned a magnitude 2.0 by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The meteorite will be on display and up for auction, among other other meteorites and space art, as part of Christie’s New York City series called "Deep Impact: Martian, Lunar and Other Rare Meteorites" on display from Feb. 7 to 14 at Rockefeller Center. In April, it will become part of an online auction.
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